A combination headlamp to be disposed in a front portion of a vehicle body on either side has been known to include a plurality of types of lamps having different functions within a lighting chamber, which is defined by a housing and an outer lens that covers the opening of the housing. Such lamps having different functions may include a high beam headlamp, a low beam headlamp, a turn indicator lamp, a position lamp, and the like.
Such a combination headlamp is demanded to be reduced in size. In order to do so, some combination headlamps have been configured to employ a light emitting element such as a light emitting diode (LED) as at least one of the plurality of types of lamps, for example, as a light source for a position lamp. In these lamps, further employed is a light guiding member that is configured to guide light emitted from the light emitting element to be illuminated with the light, as if the light guiding member itself can emit light. This type of lighting unit can be found in a publication of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2013-161697 and 2013-191412.
FIG. 1 shows a partial cross-sectional view of a conventional vehicle lighting unit having such a light guiding member 104 and extensions 105 and 106 between which the light guiding member 104 is surrounded. Specifically, the light guiding member 104 including a light guiding main body is disposed at a deeper position in a space surrounded by the extensions 105 and 106. In this configuration, the light guiding main body of the light guiding member 104 cannot be seen directly from outside within the illustrated angular range θ, and thus, the portion through which the light guiding main body of the light guiding member 104 cannot be directly seen may be darkened, thereby resulting in deteriorated appearance as a whole vehicle lighting unit.